Abstract:
SMALL Miracles (Tor, 369 pages, $10), by Virginia's Edward M. Lerner, is an exciting thriller about a man inadvertently infested -- for want of a better word -- with nanobots.

These infinitesimally small mechanisms begin joining with his conscious mind, creating a new kind of life form. Which wouldn't be too bad, if this new life form didn't think it would be great if every other human being on the planet were just like it.

Lerner definitely knows how to tell a story. His characters are well drawn; and, like the late Michael Crichton, he uses them to sell the more imaginative aspects of the story (although it's worth pointing out that the nanotechnology Lerner describes in the book isn't mere fiction). An intelligent blending of science fiction and horror themes.